not gonna lie this one's not great, guys, had a rough week

~~~~~~~~

Dana stood at the center of a swirling mass of red and black. Lightning flashed, and grotesque figures began to appear in the midst of the storm. Dark Bane. Dana grinned wickedly, looking at peace even at the middle of all the chaos. Alana stood at the edges of the portal, her feet frozen to the ground.

"Dana, stop!" Alana pleaded. "They'll destroy Slugterra!"

"Good!" Dana called. Alana scowled and knelt down, resting her hands on the ground. She had to stop the portal.

But when she called on the energy, it wouldn't come.

Alana pulled her hands away, looking down at them in dismay. Dana waded through the black and red, the Dark Bane snarling behind her. She bent down, peering at Alana.

"Such a shame. First, Stalagmite 17. Now this. They really can't count on you," she said sympathetically. In a flash, the ground beneath Alana disappeared, replaced by glass- a mirror.

Alana looked down at her reflection, her heart sinking. She said a trembling hand to her hair, now completely devoid of its blue, just solid caramel. And her eyes were no longer vibrant light blue- they were gray. All the color had been sapped from them.

"That's a shame. But there's something we can do to fix it," Dana said. She held out her hand, and a ball of pulsing red light formed over her palm, a sphere of pure dark energy.

Her hand shot toward Alana-

Alarms sounded. Red lights flashed.

Alana bolted upright in her bed, gasping for breath with one hand over her heart. Ash jumped on her knee, chirping quietly and lighting a small, warm yellow flame on his head. Alana got control of her breathing, holding a hand close to Ash to soak up the flame's warmth. After a few seconds, the panic from the nightmare faded.

"Thanks, bud," Alana said, her fear quickly being replaced by urgency as she got up and went into autopilot, changing into her slinging gear as the red lights continued to flash. She glanced at the clock- nearly one in the morning. Her slugs filed into her black backpack sitting on her nightstand. Once they were all present, Alana grabbed it and clipped it on, rushing out of her bedroom door with her two pieces of metallic arm armor in her hands.

"What've we got, Trix?" Eli called down to the first floor, rushing by Alana's door. Alana followed after him, strapping her armor on just beneath her shoulders as she went.

Trixie was already at the holodesk, looking at a shaky video. It showed dozens of Blakk Industries workers, some on Mechas, some on foot, all marching in the same direction.

"Blakk's got workers on the move, heading towards Antimony Cavern," Trixie reported. "All armed. This isn't business. They're going to take the cavern."

Alana stopped in her tracks as Eli, Kord, and Pronto rushed around her to get ready. The red lights were still pulsing, and the warning alarm still blaring, but it faded into the background.

Antimony?

The cavern was known for its residential areas. A couple cities, a few towns. Lots of people lived there, and lots of slugs, too. Plenty of stores to ransack, plenty of people to displace. But there were a few people in particular that were at risk.

"Does any of the footage show Dana?" Alana asked, walking up behind Trixie and looking at the desk.

Trixie pulled up videos relating to Antimony on the SlugNet, where videos of the workers heading toward the cavern were popping up.

Sure enough, Dana was in the lead, with two Dark Bane behind her. A trembling video showed a flash of the pale-skinned girl, then hurriedly went to the ground when her scarlet eyes met the camera. A second later, the footage went to static.

"Floppers," Alana cursed, hurrying into the garage after Trixie.

"What is it, Alana?" Eli asked as the gang started their Mechas and left the hideout, quickly transforming their rides to their bike modes.

Alana hesitated for a moment, exchanging a glance with Ash. "Antimony is Dana's home cavern," she called over the rush of the night air.

"So she'll know better than anyone how to take it down," Kord said. Alana shook her head.

"That's not what I'm worried about," she said grimly. "Dana's family still lives there."

Eli frowned, falling back next to Alana. "So, what, do we have an entire family of evil slingers to deal with now?"

"No!" Alana said quickly. "They aren't like her. Well, they are, but... they wouldn't try to fight us. They aren't that good."

"Then why worry?" Pronto asked. "It will be easy to defeat them! Just let Pronto do what he does best!"

"Power napping won't stop them, Pronto," Trixie teased. At that, Alana smiled, but she sighed.

"I'm not worried about fighting them. I'm worried about protecting them," she explained. Eli frowned.

"Out of all the people in that cavern, why do you care about them?" he asked.

"Honestly, it's mostly for Dana's sake. If she finds them, she'll get to somewhere I'm not sure I can bring her back from," Alana said. She locked eyes with Eli. "She'll kill them."

The rest of the gang was silent for a moment.

"Her own parents?" Trixie finally asked.

"They're not good people," Alana said, her shoulders drooping. "They weren't exactly nice to Dana. She's always hated them, but with the dark energy amping that up, it... it's not good."

"Well, good people or not, I still don't want any casualties," Eli said, glancing at Alana. "Once we get to Antimony, me and Alana will go ahead to the Edwards' house. The rest of you guys run damage control, and we'll meet back up with you to drive Blakk's men out of the cavern."

Trixie looked less than thrilled to have to think about anything related to Dana, but she nodded. Alana felt a small twinge of annoyance, but she knew that if she had no history with her, she'd probably hate Dana, too. The rest of the gang hadn't known her before the dark energy, back when the worst thing about Dana was the way her eyes went dark when she talked about her home life.

The rest of the journey spent to Antimony was spent in silence. Alana couldn't help but feel uncomfortable whenever Dana was brought up. Her positive demeanor faded, and she knew each of the other slingers was disdainful toward her old friend. At the end of the day, Alana was never able to stop from feeling like Dana was her problem, and the rest of the gang had been roped into dealing with it.

But as soon as the Shane Gang reached Antimony, Alana realized that there was plenty to worry about besides Dana. It was night, and the cavern should have been quiet, bathed in deep purple light as opposed to its daytime golden brown. But instead, the first town they reached was bright and alive. Every shop and home had its light on, and several were ablaze. Green and orange flames crawled up walls, and the air smelled of smoke. Broken glass littered sidewalks, and slug tubes rolled down the streets, usually red.

Slingers in Blakk's signature gray and scarlet wove through buildings, gathering up slugs and stolen gear while civilians tried desperately to escape the carnage. Several ghoulslingers rode around on Mechas, cornering people and taking whatever gear and slugs they had. Eli drove forward, his Mecha reverting back to beast mode as he fired an Aquabeek at a flaming storefront.

"Where do they live?" he called over to Alana, who fired a Frostcrawler behind a woman, creating an ice wall that blocked a stray Grimmstone from hitting her.

"Next town over!" Alana replied.

"Go on ahead, we'll take care of things here!" Kord called, jumping off his Mecha and loading his blaster. Eli nodded, transforming his Mecha back into bike mode and driving down the town's mainstreet, Alana following suit.

The farther away they got from the edge of the cavern, the less destruction they saw, but word had spread. Slingers were gathering their slugs and gear. Parents were corralling sleepy children onto Mechas and riding away, hoping to avoid the conflict. The flickering light of flames was gone, but streetlamps and buildings were still lit up as if to tell everyone that this was no time to be resting.

Children in the streets would see Eli and Alana pass by and wave or give cheers. The two singers would wave back, but their smiled turned halfhearted when they saw the panic and fear in the eyes of anyone old enough to understand what was happening.

The first town faded away into a small stretch of mushroom trees before the terrain opened up again to an area mostly occupied by homes. The large neighborhood was spread out, each house with large yards and the occasional patch of mushroom trees. It all looked familiar to Alana, who'd seen Dana's house once before, but in the dark, every street looked the same.

"Can you find it?" Eli asked as the two slowed to a stop in the middle of a street. Word had spread here, too. Families were evacuating homes, and some slingers were gearing up to defend their town. People seemed relieved at the sight of Eli and Alana, but they didn't slow their rush to escape. From the looks of it, none of Blakk's workers had reached the town yet.

"I can't remember the street," Alana muttered, cursing her younger self for not paying better attention. She rode up to a woman who stood at the street's corner, loading slugs into a sniper blaster. "Excuse me, do you know the Edwards family?"

The woman's eyes widened when she saw the Shane star on Alana's bandoleer. "Yeah, why?"

"We need to find them," Alana said urgently as Eli rode up beside her. "Where do they live?"

"214 Libel Street," the woman said, her brows furrowing. "What's wrong? Those three have never had issues with Blakk."

"Don't worry, we just need to check- wait," Alana said, freezing halfway through pulling up a street map on Midnight's screen. "D-did you say three?"

The woman nodded, looking confused. "You're talking about Mara and Damien Edwards, and their daughter, right? They've got two other kids, one moved out and I'm not sure where the other one went off to-"

"How old is their daughter?" Alana asked, her eyes wide. "The one living with them?"

"I-I don't know, four, maybe?" the woman stammered.

Alana didn't answer. She just turned Midnight around and tore off down the street, finishing opening the street map. Eli followed after her, catching up and riding Lucky alongside Midnight.

"Dana has a little sister?" he asked.

"I didn't know," Alana said fearfully. "And I don't know if Dana knew, either. But now it's not just her parents in danger."

"She wouldn't hurt a four-year-old kid, especially not her sister," Eli said, but it came out sounding like a question. Alana veered right onto Libel Street.

"I don't know," she said quietly, looking around. There were less than a dozen houses on the street, and all were completely silent, already evacuated. Alana and Eli stopped their Mechas, jumping down onto the street and running the rest of the way.

Alana's heart was pounding- she had mainly worried about the mental repercussions Dana would have if she killed her parents, not necessarily for the safety of Damien and Mara Edwards. But an innocent little girl was a different story.

214 Libel Street was not a monster house, or something you would expect someone like Dana to have been raised in. Instead, it looked homey- two stories, yellow-tan, with big front and back yards. A sidewalk led up to the front door, and all sorts of flowers lined the concrete. The plants started as red roses at the beginning of the sidewalk, and changed every few feet to a new type of flower- some even held a pale glow, and Alana definitely knew there were some she had never seen.

Alana held up her blaster, and her Rammstone jumped in. Eli followed her, walking down the sidewalk silently. Alana squinted as her eyes adjusted to the dark, the streetlights now behind her and Eli. Once she could see better, Alana's heart sank when she made out the house's doorway beneath a small overhang. The door was broken down.

"Oh no," Eli breathed.

"I can't feel her energy, but she could be suppressing it," Alana whispered as the two neared the door.

"Can you do that?"

"Probably, but I don't know how. At least not well," Alana murmured, stopping at the doorway. There was a short hallway, sporting the occasional framed photo, with two closed doors on either wall. Alana crept forward on the tile floor, moving slowly to silence her footsteps. Eli followed right behind her, looking curiously at the photos on the wall.

The most people each picture ever held was four. An adult couple, a young man, and a very little girl. The young man looked similar to what Dana had looked like before the dark energy- dark hair and tan skin, but with brown eyes instead of Dana's original green. The little girl had lighter skin, and her brown hair had an orange tint to it. She had wide brown eyes and seemed to be laughing in every single picture. In those little frozen moments in time, the group resembled a perfectly normal and happy family.

Alana averted her gaze, knowing Dana wouldn't be in any of them.

The house was completely dark. Except for the broken down door, there was no sign of any entry. Alana reached the end of the hall and looked around. The hall led into a carpeted living room, that turned into a tiled kitchen on the right. Everything was bathed in darkness, the only light coming from a small Lumino shard-shapes night light next to one of the living room couches.

Alana fought to control her breathing as she stepped onto the carpet. She wouldn't hurt a kid, she wouldn't hurt a kid, she kept thinking, but it was hard to convince herself.

She began to wonder if she and Eli should check the second floor when one of the shadows in the kitchen moved. There was a small click, and suddenly the kitchen and living room lights flickered on.

Eli and Alana both jumped, gasping and raising their blasters at the figure- Dana, leaning on the kitchen counter, facing them. Alana shivered as she felt Dana's dark energy unfurl. It was like Dana had been holding her breath. There was nothing, and then the cold energy spread out like a blossoming flower.

For a moment, fear made Alana's heart stutter. Then she regained control of herself, narrowing her eyes. "What did you do to them, Dana?"

Dana laughed quietly, shaking her head as she looked down at a paper on the counter. She glanced up at Alana, then over at Eli.

"What, you two came rushing in to save them?" she asked teasingly. "Of course you would. What were you expecting, a big mess? Or me getting ready to finish them off? They have another daughter now, did you see? Insane. After what happened with me, I can't imagine why they'd want another child."

She's rambling. She doesn't sound happy, or satisfied, or anything. She didn't get them, Alana realized. Eli must have realized the same thing, too.

"They're not here," he guessed. Dana nodded, smirking, causing the scar on her cheek to ripple.

"A note to their neighbor, instructions on how to water all those different kinds of flowers," Dana explained, holding up the paper before crumpling it in her hand. "They left early this morning to visit my brother."

Alana's shoulders relaxed slightly. At least the rest of the Edwards family was safe. She had no love for Dana's parents, but a little girl would be traumatized by an attack from Dana, assuming she lived to tell about it.

Eli, however, tensed at the mention of Dana's brother. Alana had never told the gang anything specific about Dana's personal life. Alana had never officially met Dana's brother, and he didn't turn out like Dana in the slightest, so she had no reason to worry about him.

"Don't worry, Shane. He's nothing like me," Dana said, tossing the crumpled paper to the floor. "He was always so... forgiving. They apologized and he would accept. What a hypocrite."

Alana and Eli exchanged a nervous glance. It felt like talking to a robot. Dana didn't seem to be completely all there. Alana couldn't imagine what being back in this house must be like.

"Dana," she began, but Dana cut her off, looking at a vase of tiger lilies on the kitchen counter.

"Yes, yes. You don't want to fight me. You still think I have a chance. I don't care. Tonight proved to myself that I can't go back. I think I would have done it, if they were here. Definitely my parents. As far as Rosemary, my sister... well, we'll never know." Dana paused, looking at Eli with her scarlet eyes. "I'm sure this tears you up, listening to her constantly trying to reason with someone like me," she said, gesturing to the red V on her bandoleer.

Eli shrugged. "She's my friend. Even if I don't think the same way she does, I'm not gonna leave her hanging like you did."

Alana couldn't help but give a small smile, but it disappeared when Dana scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Don't act like she's completely innocent," Dana sneered, glaring at Alana. "She definitely didn't help me at all."

"But I'm offering to now," Alana said, meeting Dana's eyes. "You know I'd rather put the blasters down and fix this."

"No," Dana replied, standing upright and stretching out her arms. "You know I prefer the alternative."

She moved quick as lightning, vaulting the counter and sprinting forward, suddenly right in front of Alana and Eli. There was a flash of a blade, and Alana reared back towards the entry hallway, pulling Eli away with her to avoid Dana's dagger. Alana fired her Rammstone, but Dana dodged, firing a Tempesto in front of her. The ghoul created a gust of wind that sent Alana and Eli barreling down the hallway and onto the sidewalk in front of the house. Dana walked out of the doorstep leisurely, taking a deep breath of night air.

"Guardian slugs, I hate that forsaken house," she scowled, firing an Amperling. Alana and Eli split up, running to Dana's left and right to avoid the bolts of lightning the ghoul created. Eli fired a Phosphoro at Dana, temporarily blinding her while Alana fired a Vinedrill. The slug created lime green vines that wrapped around Dana's arms and legs.

Dana growled in anger, and for a split second, her eyes glowed red. Alana winced she felt a wave of dark energy swell forward, and the parts of the vines touching Dana's skin began to turn black and withered. She forced her arms out, tearing through the now dying vines and firing a Grimmstone at Eli, who dropped to the ground to avoid it.

"You have new tricks," Alana noted as she glanced down at the dead vines. She fired Ash, who flew around Dana in circles.

"You have no idea!" Dana called, firing an Attacknet. The ghoul spat out a web and attached to a mushroom tree the next yard over, pulling her over Ash's flames.

Eli fired a Jellyish as Dana swung up to the top of the mushroom tree, coating the canopy in lime green goo just as Dana landed. She slipped and fell to the ground, rolling into her landing. But before she could recover, Alana fired her Armashelt. It hit Dana in the stomach, sending her careening into the mushroom tree's trunk in a cloud of smoke. But instead of staying down, Dana staggered to her feet, waving the smoke away from her face. Her clothes were singed, and for a moment, she winced in pain, but she quickly turned it into a smirk as Alana and Eli regrouped, standing shoulder-to-shoulder.

"It takes more than that to stop me," Dana said, firing a Harmashelt.

The ghoul crashed into the ground, knocking Alana and Eli back and creating a small crater in the yard. Dana leapt over it, swinging her dagger. Alana got to her feet and held up her arm, deflecting the dagger's blade with the metal armor between her elbow and shoulder. Eli dropped down and swung his legs around, knocking Dana's feet out from under her. Alana fired a Frostcrawler, but Dana kicked at the slug, knocking it off course but getting her left leg frozen in the process.

Eli fired Joules, but Dana ducked, pausing for a split second to think, her dagger in one hand, blaster in the other. Then she raised her black and scarlet blaster and fired a Vamparo at Alana.

Alana gasped and immediately reacted to defend herself, firing a Geoshard at the ground in front of her and Eli. The slug created a wall of glowing green crystal that blocked the ghoul. Dana took advantage of the temporary cover, shattering the ice on her knee with the handle of her blaster and dusting off the rest of the ice.

Alana glanced at Eli and nodded as she loaded her Dirt Urchin. Eli fired his Crystalyd at the wall. The slug drilled through the Geoshard crystal, shattering it. Alana fired her Dirt Urchin after the Crystalyd, and it rained down a shower of thorns on Dana.

Dana wove around the spikes masterfully, but one caught her thigh, and another caught her shoulder, cutting through her clothes and drawing blood. She hissed and raised a hand to her shoulder, glaring at Alana.

"This is getting tiresome," she spat, firing a Thrasher with her free hand. Alana gasped and pivoted to the side. She could feel the air moving just in front of her as the ghoul missed by an inch.

"You're telling me," Alana breathed, wincing as a headache began to grow from the exposure to dark energy.

The duel continued in a stalemate- Dana would fire an Amperling, and Alana would just barely avoid it while Eli would try to get a shot in, or vice versa. Whenever Dana was clipped by a slug, she would never stay down. Alana could feel the dark energy rushing to every one of Dana's injuries, not healing them, but masking the pain with energy and adrenaline. The darkness was like an entirely different entity living in Dana.

"It may help you keep going, but your energy will make you burn out one of these days," Alana said as she got to her feet after a hit from a Grimmstone. Dana rolled her eyes as she dodged a Hop Rock fired by Eli.

"I know my limits," she snapped, firing a Hop Jack at Eli, who dove to the ground to avoid its explosion. "I haven't reached them. But I know the longer you go up against dark energy, the weaker you get. And as for him- well, not everyone has an energy powerhouse to keep them going."

Alana's eyes widened as Dana fired a Harmashelt at Eli, hitting him square in the chest. He fell to the ground, his blaster falling from his hand. Alana rushed forward, but Dana put herself between the two, lunging for Alana with her dagger.

Alana caught Dana's arm, her own arms shaking with effort as she stopped Dana's dagger inches away from her stomach.

"How did you get this far gone?" Alana asked. "You just wanted to get back at your parents! But now you know that Blakk wants to let the Dark Bane into Slugterra. They'll destroy everything!"

"I don't care anymore!" Dana replied, a mad gleam in her eyes. "My energy, it's overpowered any love I had for these caverns. I just want to watch them all burn, and that'll include my parents, too."

"Would you have done it?" Alana asked, gritting her teeth. "If they were here, would you have done it?"

"Of course. I've wanted to for years," Dana hissed. "It would have been so easy."

"What about the girl- your sister? What'd you say her name was, Rosemary?" Alana asked. Half of her just wanted to keep Dana talking while she charged up some light energy, but the other half had to know. "Would you have killed her, too?"

Dana's expression faltered. "I-I..."

She didn't have time to answer. Alana leaned back and yelled, "Now!"

Eli came running from behind Dana, slamming into her and knocking her to the ground. Alana held out her hands, and they glowed light blue as she channeled energy to Dana, willing it to overcome the darkness.

Come on, please work.

But Dana was stronger than Eli. She threw him off of her and got to her feet, stumbling away from Alana and holding her head in her hands. Alana lost the connection to Dana's energy, and the blue light faded from her hands. Eli got to his feet and stood next to Alana, panting.

"Please tell me you got her," he gasped, rubbing his shoulder from where he'd landed on the ground. Alana wrung her hands, taking a step toward Dana.

"I don't know," she said. At the sound of Alana's voice, Dana's head snapped up, and Alana gasped.

Dana's eyes were vivid light blue. She looked at Alana and Eli in confusion, panic all over her face.

"I-I don't want to-" Dana stammered, screwing her eyes shut. "N-no- too cold! This isn't right!"

Alana could feel the energy conflicting in Dana's body. She'd only gotten in a small fraction of light compared to the darkness around it. Just enough to throw off the dark energy, but not defeat it.

"Dana, I can get rid of the rest of the dark energy, just let me-" Alana tried, but Dana took a step back, opening her eyes again.

"No! Stop! Don't! I... I think I would have done it anyway!" she yelled, pressing her hands on her temples and gasping as her eyes reverted back to scarlet. Alana groaned with disappointment as she felt the light energy swallowed up and corrupted by the dark.

Dana lowered her hands, taking deep breaths. She looked at Alana, and then back at her old house, her hands shaking. With a sigh, she quickly loaded her blaster. Alana and Eli took a step back, but Dana pointed it at the ground and pulled the trigger. In a flash of red and black sparks, she vanished.

Eli and Alana were silent for a moment. Then he glanced at her. "Is she gone?"

Alana paused for a moment, feeling the energy around them. Thugglet illusions were disorienting, but she felt no dark energy in the immediate area. Dana had fled.

"Yeah. She's gone," Alana breathed. She looked down at her hands. "I thought I did it for a second there."

It was clear that Eli didn't know exactly what to say. He was just like the rest of the gang- he didn't like Dana and he had no reason to pity her. But Alana knew he wanted to be supportive when he could, so instead of making a note about how it had been a waste of time, Eli sighed and shrugged.

"Maybe next time you see her," he said as the two walked down the empty street toward their Mechas.

Alana shook her head. "No. I can't keep fighting her like this," she said. "Like my only goal is to save her. Next time we fight, I can't waste any energy trying to talk her down. I just need to take her down, and see if things can be fixed from there."

She and Eli climbed back onto their Mechas. The sound of slugfire was growing near, and through the many rows of houses, Alana could see the approaching flickers of fires. Dana may be gone, but Blakk's forces were still at large.

"Just don't give up hope with Dana, okay?" Eli asked as the two rode down the street, preparing for yet another battle. "We would all fight Dana in a heartbeat, but we believe you can fix things, too."

Alana laughed, a strange sound to be heard as they approached battle. "Don't worry, I'm stubborn. I'm not giving up. But..."

She glanced back at the Edwards' house before it disappeared from view. The thought of Dana attacking even with her little sister there crossed her mind.

"Peoples' safety comes first."

~~~~~~~~

Twist walked the halls of the Blakk Industries citadel restlessly. It was the morning after the invasion of Antimony Cavern was halted by the Shane Gang. Blakk's workers had made it out with dozens of ghouls, and had certainly struck fear into the people of the cavern, but they hadn't been able to completely take it. That was, in part, because the leader of said invasion had abandoned the mission halfway through.

Dana had shown up at the citadel fuming, storming into her room and locking herself in without a single word. Twist had spent a half hour trying to get something out of her, but all she would do was threaten to slug him if he kept bothering her.

So he was left to wander the corridors of the citadel, similarly to how he'd wander around the city streets before he joined Blakk. Guilt gnawed at him- Dana's plans for revenge against her parents had been spoiled, and technically, it had been by Twist's hand.

Doctor Blakk had ordered Twist to send the message shortly after he'd escaped from Stalagmite 17. A warning to the Edwards family that their wayward daughter was planning a return, and for their safety, they should leave Antimony Cavern immediately. It seems they had followed the advice.

Blakk didn't want to risk Dana losing her motivation once she achieved her goal. Instead, he figured it was better to dangle it just in front of her, to let her negativity and anger fester. As long as the Shane Gang had Alana, Doctor Blakk wanted to have Dana.

The terraportal drill's construction was nearly complete, and if Dana had been telling the truth about how Alana had nearly been able to close the one at Stalagmite 17, Alana would be the Shane Gang's best shot at stopping it.

~~~~~~~~

Alana wandered the crowd of townspeople, looking for the woman from last night.

The Shane Gang had cleared out the last of Blakk's workers at first glow. Antimony hadn't been conquered, but plenty of slugs had been taken, and several towns had taken a severe beating. The gang decided to stick around until lunchtime to help with cleanup efforts, but Alana had been demoted after she nearly collapsed trying to lift a fallen shop sign. An entire night of fighting off dark energy combined with the growing constant awareness of Slugterra's weakening magic had drained her.

The streets were bustling with people trying to clean up from last night's fight, but Alana finally found the woman who'd led them to the Edwards house.

"Hey," Alana said, walking up to the woman, who was carrying a box of busted blasters. "I have a favor to ask."

The woman's eyes widened, and she set the box down, dusting off her hands. "After the night you guys just had? Anything, kid."

"When they get back, I need you to warn the Edwards family that she's looking for them, and they shouldn't stay in the same place for long until we defeat Blakk," Alana said. The woman looked confused, and opened her mouth to ask about the cryptic warning, but Alana interrupted her. "They'll know what I mean."

The woman nodded, promising to pass along the message, and Alana continued through the crowd.

She'd been tempted to add to her message, to tell Dana's parents that the warning was for Rosemary's sake, not theirs. But however true it may be, Alana didn't want to voice it out loud.

She refused to become bitter like Dana.